The monthly mortgage payment on a 250k house is about 2k a month. I would also be curious for what it actually rents for.
Am I wrong or did the site you mention start calling a bubble too early and then ceased publication as the bubble exxxpaaaanded?
florida real estate is made of gold and will be for some time to come. yes, it's a very 'frothy' market, characterized by a lot of speculation and the concommittant drawing in of marginal players. but, fundamentally, it's a solid bull market.
I paid $157k for my 1120 square foot house in Boca. Small house, but works for me being single. On the lake with a hot tub, billiard room, wet bar. Keep looking, dont give up! I hear Port St Lucie & Jupiter is booming if you want investment property. At $250k, you might have to look at a townhouse, or wait for prices to crash, which I'm afraid of.
I live in the Keys and just bough another home in Hobe Sound in Martin County on the east Coast. From looking at housing prices along the East Coast of Florida I can tell you that there is a great variance depending on the location. The Keys - the market has been softening. Prices haven't come down yet, but the houses stay on the market much longer. The prices are astronomical and may soften a bit, but will probably just wait to catch up with the market. The unique situation here is the limited supply due to building restrictions (about 200 permits/year for all of the Keys). Miami/Ft. Lauderdale - seems to have overbuilt and the prices are getting soft. Plenty of houses. Martin County - the last remaining gem on the East Coast, houses and prices on the up and up. Building restrictions and the last pristine place for people to escape to from South Florida. So all I can say, that it depends entirely on where you are looking. Some places have overbuilt, especially the metropolitan areas and others are running out of building room. It varies all over the place. You can get a good buy on a condo in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, but you will pay for any waterfront or for restricted building areas that everyone is looking for. I don't think that will change anytime soon.
I think it's telling, although not scientific, that absolutely EVERY single broker, of the 200 I've been around in the last 5 weeks, when asked about potential declining prices in his specific market, has told me: "That may be true in other markets, but our market is unique because......" I have not yet found a single person with a job that depends on the real estate market that thinks the real estate market is a bubble...
Their are 700 net per day inflow of people into the state of Florida. One of the highest in the country. With the baby boomers looking to retire to the fun and sun, you will never go wrong with Florida real estate. Buy anywhere else, but waterfront real estate will always grow head over heals to anything else. bandit
Yes, my parents have been wintering in the Port St. Lucie area for the last 4 years. They could have bought a small place on the intercoastal/ocean the first year for $80,000. Now the same place is going for $350,000. I've been trying to talk them into buying something in the Sarasota/Naples area for years. But now those areas are becoming out of reach (for a 2nd home).
prices do seem high down here (as they do everywhere) but Newestmembers claims are a bit exaggerated. No county in Florida has "hundreds of thousands of homes for sale", let alone all 67 of them! As far as homes having "no intrinsic value" down here.....something is behind his quest to purchase!